BLUE HOLE EXPLORATION
In deep, 'ecological hotspots' divers find endangered species, weird microbes, and hope for better understanding the Gulf of Mexico.
BY HAYLEY RUTGER
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n August, world-famous oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and her organization Mission Blue named a large swath of Florida’s Gulf of Mexico Coast its newest “Hope Spot,” a place with unique ocean ecosystem features worthy of preservation. This Hope Spot, stretching from Apalachicola Bay to Ten Thousand Islands, raises awareness of the region’s fascinating natural features. Perhaps the most mysterious of those features are “blue holes”: underwater caves, springs and sinkholes that support diverse marine life. Mote Marine Laboratory scientists have pioneered the scientific exploration of blue holes, and their extensive knowledge supported the new Hope Spot designation. “A big blue salute to the champions in Florida who have gotten behind the Florida Gulf Coast Hope Spot,” Earle said, noting that the region has “joined more than 100 places around the world where people such as you have stepped up and committed to making a difference.”
“We call blue holes ‘ecological hotpots’ because they’re really biologically diverse and chemically distinct compared with the areas around them,” said Dr. Emily Hall, who leads Mote’s Ocean Acidification Research Program and Chemical & Physical Ecology Program and serves as Primary Investigator for Mote’s latest blue-hole study supported by a competitive grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Project partners include Jim Culter, Mote’s Benthic Ecology Program Manager and a pioneer of Gulf blue hole exploration, and scientists from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (FAU), Georgia Institute of Technology and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
That’s partly because blue holes are some of the "hotspots" of the Hope Spot.
Here is what the team discovered inside one of the deepest, darkest—and coolest—places within the Gulf Hope Spot.
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PHOTO BY: CURT BOWEN
Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby said: “Mote scientists’ exploration of blue holes—one of the many projects we lead within the Hope Spot—may provide invaluable insight into the Gulf’s unique ecosystem.”
In May and September 2019, the team undertook their most detailed blue hole investigations to-date, deploying divers and a “benthic lander”—a framework holding multiple scientific instruments collectively weighing more than 600 pounds—into one of their two project study sites: the offshore Amberjack (AJ) Hole, whose bottom extends deeper than 350 feet.